Hip Replacement

Hip Replacement services offered in Nashville and Murfreesboro, TN

Hip replacement surgery alleviates chronic joint pain and improves mobility for patients with problems like advanced osteoarthritis. Fellowship-trained joint replacement surgeon Robert Otto, MD, specializes in performing hip replacements. Dr. Otto is part of the Southern Joint Replacement Institute and has offices in Nashville and Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He uses the most advanced techniques to perform hip replacements that transform his patients’ lives. To benefit from his unrivaled expertise in hip replacement surgery, call Robert J Otto MD today or book an appointment online.

Why would I need hip replacement surgery?

You might benefit from hip replacement surgery if you have a painful hip severely limiting your mobility, and no other treatment options can help.

Severe hip injuries that damage the bones beyond repair or conditions like osteonecrosis (bone death) might require a hip replacement. However, in most cases, it’s severe osteoarthritis that leads to hip replacement surgery.

Osteoarthritis is typically a disease of later life. The protective articular cartilage, a slippery coating on the ends of the bones in your joints, erodes over the years, exposing raw bone. The bones catch and rub as your joints move, causing inflammation, pain, and stiffness that worsens over time.

Physical therapy, medication, and steroid injections can reduce your symptoms to begin with. But if the damage gets too bad, these treatments stop working. At this point, Dr. Otto might recommend a hip replacement procedure.

How is hip replacement surgery performed?

There are several approaches to performing hip replacement surgery:

Anterior approach

Using the anterior approach, Dr. Otto accesses your hip through the front of your body, which involves making smaller incisions than with other methods. Anterior hip replacement causes less tissue damage and pain, and recovery is typically faster. It’s not suitable for all patients, however.

Posterior approach

The posterior approach is a more traditional surgery, where Dr. Otto makes the incisions through your buttock muscles to reach your hip joint.

Lateral approach

For the lateral approach, Dr. Otto accesses your hip through the side of the body.

What happens when I have hip replacement surgery?

Hip replacement surgery involves removing damaged bone and cartilage and replacing it with prosthetic parts. Dr. Otto extracts the damaged femoral head (the ball part of your hip joint) and replaces it with a metal stem that slides into the femur’s hollow center. He fits a metal or ceramic ball onto the stem.

Dr. Otto also removes the damaged cartilage in the hip’s socket (acetabulum) and replaces it with a metal one. He puts a ceramic, plastic, or metal spacer between the new ball and socket, so the replacement parts move together smoothly.

Dr. Otto can do same-day or outpatient hip replacement surgery for suitable patients. Following several months of physical therapy, you should be able to walk freely and without discomfort.

To find out how hip replacement surgery could relieve your pain, call Robert J Otto MD today or book an appointment online.